KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Sex has long been at the heart of Anwar Ibrahim's
criminal case.

Now there are lies, petty jealousy and possibly conspiracy.

Five days into Anwar's historic corruption and sex trial, Malaysia's
outgoing police intelligence chief read into the High Court record on Friday
a statement that could have been written by the defendant himself.

The document, taken from a report by Special Branch Director Mohamed
Said Awang to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, exonerated Anwar of allegations
of sodomy and adultery.

What is more, it concluded that the allegations appeared to be
"deliberately created" by a shadowy group out to smear Anwar.

Coming from the prosecution's first witness, the statement was
nothing short of stunning. The defence, out to prove that Anwar was the
victim of a frame-up by political opponents, could almost be excused if
it considered resting its case there.

But in a super-heated climate of allegations, retractions and
counter-allegations, the case was no doubt far from shut.

Mohamed Said told the court on Thursday that he was prepared to
lie if ordered by a superior to do so. He said earlier in the week that
Anwar had urged police to obtain the retractions.

Why, then, would the judge believe what Mohamed Said wrote in
August 1997?

What Mohamed Said surely did do, however, was to broaden the canvas
before the court by introducing elements that for months have been kept
off the front pages of the newspapers and largely confined to whispering
in the capital's drawing rooms.

He concluded that Ummi Hafilda Ali's report entitled "The Wrongdoings
of the Deputy Prime Minister" was based on the suspicion that her sister-in-law,
Shamsidar Taharin, was having an affair with Anwar. Shamsidar Taharin is
the wife of Anwar's former private secretary.

In an earlier twist in the political soap opera, Anwar was accused
in a book, "Fifty Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister", of fathering
an illegitimate child with Shamsidar. But blood tests later proved that
her husband was the father.

A judge recently banned distribution of the book pending a court
verdict in Anwar's defamation suit against the author. The trial is set
to start next month.

The police veteran said in his report to Mahathir that Anwar's
former driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, accused Anwar of sodomy because he was
influenced by Ummi and "disliked the arrogant attitude of Shamsidar Taharin".

In what was arguably the most significant revelation, Mohamed
Said said there were "indications that there exists a certain group that
may have their own agenda and played a role behind the scenes to urge Ummi
Hafilda Ali and Azizan Abu Bakar to smear" Anwar.

In the report, Mohamed Said named Mohd Taib Salamon, "an ex-police
inspector who has been sacked". In court, he named a second man, B.K. Tan.

While the report served the defence's needs, Anwar's lawyers were
eager to get a second report by Mohamed Said which lawyer Christopher Fernando
said mentioned political heavyweights close to Mahathir.

Fernando cited Special Functions Minister Daim Zainuddin, Domestic
Trade Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob, former Malacca state chief minister
Rahim Thamby Chik and Mahathir's political secretary Aziz Shamsuddin —
all of them Anwar antagonists. Mohamed Said told the court that he did
not think a second report existed.